My best year ever!!



Spot the baby!



My beautiful baby girl has just turned one, her first big milestone. So recently I have found myself reminiscing and reflecting over the last year. Our lives have changed so much – we moved to a new area; I became a stay-at-home mum and most importantly, we became a family of five!

I love the energy, enthusiasm and interest Abigail has in everything. Once a helpless baby, she is now a fearless, adventurous little monkey! Her confidence is developing and she is beginning to master walking.

Like her brother and sister, Abigail is very sociable and loves meeting new people. Fortunately both Sophie and Luke settled well into pre-school and school and have made lots of new friends. I love meeting new people too and hope that the friendships I have made will last a long time.

I have adapted well to becoming a stay-at-home-mum, which I love. It is fantastic to spend time with my children, meet other mums, arrange play-dates and have the freedom to decide how we will spend the day. But of course, it is difficult when you are trying to survive on a reduced family income. So my days as a stay-at-home-mum are numbered as I will start working again in September.

Since I was four and dreamed of playing tennis at Wimbledon, I have been very sporty. I used to be extremely passionate about athletics and have recently reignited my passion for running. It’s fantastic for losing baby weight (all four stone of it!) and I often got up at 6am to fit in a run before my husband left for work. I’m finally back into my size 8 dresses and in July I’m doing the Race for Life 10k. A few months ago, I joined a gym and love trying out new classes – Zumba, Body Jam, Body Combat and Body Pump are all fantastic ways to exercise.


As an ex-professional rugby player, my husband is also very active. He’s still playing 1^st team rugby and my son has inherited his love of the game. Luke settled very quickly into our local rugby club and I was very proud when he was awarded the Player's Player last month.



Abigail enjoying a dance with her brother



A talented all-rounder, Luke too expressed a desire to play at Wimbledon at the tender age of three. After spending a small fortune on lessons, he has become a good player but unfortunately doesn’t still aspire to be a professional tennis player. Last year Sophie seemed very keen to start playing tennis, although we later found out that she really only wanted a pink tennis racquet! After a brief spell at tennis lessons, we decided that dance might be a better option, partly as she expressed an interest in it and also because she added dances and twirls into her tennis! After finding a dance school, Sophie started pre-school ballet and loves performing her moves for us. Abigail also loves to dance with a big smile on her face!

I’m sure I have missed out lots of important things which have happened over the last year. But without a doubt, it has been the best year of my life so far!